So today while I was at the dealership picking up a part for my car, I saw a new Scion tC sitting outside. Looked interesting so I decided to bull$hit my way into a test drive. Turned out they had a 5 speed there also so of course that was the one I took out for a spin.
The guy seemed pretty knowledgeable. Not as much as me but knowledgeable nonetheless
Car looks great. Wheels are aftermarket quality. I am sure you guys have seen all the exterior pics so I will move on. I really did like the interior of the car. Usually Toyota fit, finish, and quality. The dual sunroof thing is pretty cool. The knee airbags things are interesting and the stereo is an in dash 6 disc changer which is nice. The sound system is decent. Nothing unbelievable or record setting but nice anyway. Car has a good amount of room in it. I am 6 ft 1 and had no problem whatsoever. Seats have a lot of adjustability options also and are pretty supportive and comfortable. And there still seemed t be a good amount of room in the rear. The pedals seemed kinda close together but I liked that. Heel toe should be easy. No TRD parts are out for it yet though and I asked about the supercharger working on the camry and they think it will but they really are not sure. The Supercharger won't be here until like almost 2005 though. Okay, on to the test drive.
So the car is obviously torquey. The 160 lb ft(and 160hp) does not go unnoticed but really I thought the car seemed sluggish. it is 84 degrees here in Ann arbor though and the engine only had 80 miles on it so maybe that had something to do with it? Still though, I would have liked more power. I had no problem breaking the tires loose going into second which was fun but really, who can't do that in just about all 5 speed cars nowadays. The shifter was really nice though. Throws seemed pretty short and precise. Almost as good as my short shifter in my Camry. I don't think 160hp is enough for this car though, the supercharger would be a must buy for me. as it is riht now, my 2nd gen Camry would eat the tC and seems more responsive. Something I found really annoying though is the rev limiter. The car has a tach that has a 6200 rpm redline. Usually you can drive cars right up to redline and then shift. Not the case in this car. I ran right up on the limiter several times before I got the hang of it. You need to shift before you hit redline to do it right. I imagine this is the same problem peopel have with the similarly torquey 4 cylinder in the Sentra SE-R. I did get the car up to 110 no problem though so it does have a little pull to it.
The biggest dissappointment was the suspension. This car needs a handling upgrade like no other. I mean it's not horrible but I really wouldn't call it sporty. I was expecting a lot more since it has the 17's with sport tires and is supposed to be a sporty coupe. I only got a couple times to try out the suspension because of traffic but that was all I needed. Truthfully I don't feel too comfortable pushing that car. I tried to drive it simalarly to how I would drive my camry and didn't even push it what I thought was 100 %. I made a left hand turn somewhere in the middle of 2nd gear onto a wide street and when I gassed it to power out of the turn the entire rear end started to slide around. Not a little either I mean the suspension just gave up and I just let up off the gas and the whole car just bounced back and forth. I was really quite dissapointed that this "sports coupe" could not take what I would consider a normal turn in my modified 15 yeat old family car. I also took a long sweeping turn where I was switching lanes from left to right and accelerating kinda like a slalom to pass cars and the body roll was really unsettling. i had to really concentrate to not seriously get the car out of shape. I did do a nice brake check on the car though and they seem to work great. ABS works like it should and car stops straight no problem. No clue on fade or not though. In comparison, I recently had the chance to drive a new Mazda 3 and it's suspension was leagues above the tC's. One other note. I hat the exhaust tone. It is pretty weak sounding but it is tuned for the general public which I am sure the majority will have no problem with.
Overall, I did like the car but I wouldn't buy it. Only because it would be like me taking a step down from my camry. I would have to buy all the upgrades for the car and then have the dealership put it on to get the car to a level were I could live with it. After spending the 6000+ it would take for suspension, supercharger, bolt ons. etc, I could just buy a more upscale car for a little bit more which is what I think I would rather do. You do get a ton for the money though. The car is under 16k which really is astonishing since it is basically fully loaded. I am a little biased because my current car is nowhere near stock anymore so it has kinda skewed my perception of stock cars. I also am not very fond of fwd performance. Also, it weighs like 300 lbs than the 2900 lb tC which makes a big difference. I think it would make a great first car for many people but personally I think i have outgrown cars like the tC and if I am going to buy something new, I need a lot more.
The guy seemed pretty knowledgeable. Not as much as me but knowledgeable nonetheless
Car looks great. Wheels are aftermarket quality. I am sure you guys have seen all the exterior pics so I will move on. I really did like the interior of the car. Usually Toyota fit, finish, and quality. The dual sunroof thing is pretty cool. The knee airbags things are interesting and the stereo is an in dash 6 disc changer which is nice. The sound system is decent. Nothing unbelievable or record setting but nice anyway. Car has a good amount of room in it. I am 6 ft 1 and had no problem whatsoever. Seats have a lot of adjustability options also and are pretty supportive and comfortable. And there still seemed t be a good amount of room in the rear. The pedals seemed kinda close together but I liked that. Heel toe should be easy. No TRD parts are out for it yet though and I asked about the supercharger working on the camry and they think it will but they really are not sure. The Supercharger won't be here until like almost 2005 though. Okay, on to the test drive.
So the car is obviously torquey. The 160 lb ft(and 160hp) does not go unnoticed but really I thought the car seemed sluggish. it is 84 degrees here in Ann arbor though and the engine only had 80 miles on it so maybe that had something to do with it? Still though, I would have liked more power. I had no problem breaking the tires loose going into second which was fun but really, who can't do that in just about all 5 speed cars nowadays. The shifter was really nice though. Throws seemed pretty short and precise. Almost as good as my short shifter in my Camry. I don't think 160hp is enough for this car though, the supercharger would be a must buy for me. as it is riht now, my 2nd gen Camry would eat the tC and seems more responsive. Something I found really annoying though is the rev limiter. The car has a tach that has a 6200 rpm redline. Usually you can drive cars right up to redline and then shift. Not the case in this car. I ran right up on the limiter several times before I got the hang of it. You need to shift before you hit redline to do it right. I imagine this is the same problem peopel have with the similarly torquey 4 cylinder in the Sentra SE-R. I did get the car up to 110 no problem though so it does have a little pull to it.
The biggest dissappointment was the suspension. This car needs a handling upgrade like no other. I mean it's not horrible but I really wouldn't call it sporty. I was expecting a lot more since it has the 17's with sport tires and is supposed to be a sporty coupe. I only got a couple times to try out the suspension because of traffic but that was all I needed. Truthfully I don't feel too comfortable pushing that car. I tried to drive it simalarly to how I would drive my camry and didn't even push it what I thought was 100 %. I made a left hand turn somewhere in the middle of 2nd gear onto a wide street and when I gassed it to power out of the turn the entire rear end started to slide around. Not a little either I mean the suspension just gave up and I just let up off the gas and the whole car just bounced back and forth. I was really quite dissapointed that this "sports coupe" could not take what I would consider a normal turn in my modified 15 yeat old family car. I also took a long sweeping turn where I was switching lanes from left to right and accelerating kinda like a slalom to pass cars and the body roll was really unsettling. i had to really concentrate to not seriously get the car out of shape. I did do a nice brake check on the car though and they seem to work great. ABS works like it should and car stops straight no problem. No clue on fade or not though. In comparison, I recently had the chance to drive a new Mazda 3 and it's suspension was leagues above the tC's. One other note. I hat the exhaust tone. It is pretty weak sounding but it is tuned for the general public which I am sure the majority will have no problem with.
Overall, I did like the car but I wouldn't buy it. Only because it would be like me taking a step down from my camry. I would have to buy all the upgrades for the car and then have the dealership put it on to get the car to a level were I could live with it. After spending the 6000+ it would take for suspension, supercharger, bolt ons. etc, I could just buy a more upscale car for a little bit more which is what I think I would rather do. You do get a ton for the money though. The car is under 16k which really is astonishing since it is basically fully loaded. I am a little biased because my current car is nowhere near stock anymore so it has kinda skewed my perception of stock cars. I also am not very fond of fwd performance. Also, it weighs like 300 lbs than the 2900 lb tC which makes a big difference. I think it would make a great first car for many people but personally I think i have outgrown cars like the tC and if I am going to buy something new, I need a lot more.
